Home Demolitions in the OPT
Adalah, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights – Gaza (PCHR) and Al-Haq filed a petition and a motion for injunction to the Supreme Court in May 2004 against IDF Major General – Central Command, IDF Major General – Southern Command, the Chief of Staff, the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister. The petitioners asked the Supreme Court to define, for the first time, the scope of the legal term "military necessity," and challenged the army's use of the justification of "military necessity" for its policy of home demolitions. The most recent examples of this policy have occurred during the Israeli army's military operations in Rafah refugee camp, Gaza Strip, in May 2004, as well as in Jenin refugee camp and Nablus, West Bank, in 2002, during the course of which homes have been extensively demolished, rendering hundreds of families homeless.
In 7/05, the Court dismissed the case, deciding that there was no need at this time to rule on the substantive arguments made in the petition in light of the Israeli military's statements that it intends to refrain from house demolitions, and that the petition was now theoretical and moot. The Supreme Court added, however, that, "[I]t is understood that dismissal of the petition herein does not constitute rejection of any of the petitioners' arguments, and they remain available to them, should they decide to file another petition if the policy that the respondents declared before us in this matter should change." Adalah responded that the fact that the Court did not examine the legality of the military's conduct, during or after the events occurred, essentially amounts to granting domestic impunity to the Israeli military for grave breaches of International Humanitarian Law, given the extensive and well-documented evidence presented by the petitioners to the Court, their timely approach, and the Court's previous description of the case as one that raised principled issues.
H.C. 4969/04, Adalah et.al. v. IDF Major General, Central Command, Moshe Kaplinski, et.al.
The Petition (Hebrew)
The Supreme Court Decision (English)
Additional Information
Briefing Paper, July 2005
The Israeli Army's Exploitation of the "Absolute Military Necessity" Exception to Justify its Policy of Home Demolitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Case Developments from October 2004 to June 2005
Briefing Paper, February 2005
The Israeli Army's Exploitation of the "Absolute Military Necessity" Exception to Justify its Policy of Home Demolitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
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